Multicast data distribution system and method
First Claim
1. A reliable, high performance data communication system comprising:
- data source means for assembling data into data packets and transmitting respective said data packets as they become full with a predetermined amount of data, or if not full, at an occurrence of a reference interval of time, each of said data packets having data corresponding to data packet sequencing data and an information field; and
a plurality of receiver means for receiving said transmitted data packets, each said receiver means having failure detection means for checking for failures in the reliable receipt of said data packets by monitoring;
said data packet sequencing data; and
for receipt of a respective data packet within each expiration of a period of time corresponding to said reference interval of time;
whereby both receipt of a data packet having data packet sequencing data which does not match a next expected data packet sequencing data of a predetermined sequence, and also a failure to receiver a respective data packet within an expiration of a period of time corresponding to said reference interval of time, are indicative of a failure in a reliable receipt of said data packets.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A data distribution system and method for the timely, efficient and reliable distribution of data to an unlimited number of remote receiver installations. A data source assembles data packets, and upon filing or after the lapse of a predetermined interval of time, broadcasts a respective data packet to all receivers and recovery means along a communication network. Each receiver is intelligent, in that it copies the data packets into a buffer and has the responsibility of selecting out data needed to perform the receiver'"'"'s intended functions. As a result, intermediate data selecting and routing means between the data source and receivers are avoided, resulting in data delivery which is both rapid and timely. For reliability, each receiver monitors the sequence numbers of the data packets which have been received and, also, whether a data packet is received at least as frequently as the predetermined interval of time. Any data packet which a receiver determines is missing, can be obtained from the recovery means which stores a library of the received data packets or which can retrieve the missing data packet from the data source.
301 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A reliable, high performance data communication system comprising:
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data source means for assembling data into data packets and transmitting respective said data packets as they become full with a predetermined amount of data, or if not full, at an occurrence of a reference interval of time, each of said data packets having data corresponding to data packet sequencing data and an information field; and a plurality of receiver means for receiving said transmitted data packets, each said receiver means having failure detection means for checking for failures in the reliable receipt of said data packets by monitoring; said data packet sequencing data; and for receipt of a respective data packet within each expiration of a period of time corresponding to said reference interval of time; whereby both receipt of a data packet having data packet sequencing data which does not match a next expected data packet sequencing data of a predetermined sequence, and also a failure to receiver a respective data packet within an expiration of a period of time corresponding to said reference interval of time, are indicative of a failure in a reliable receipt of said data packets. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A reliable, high performance data communication method comprising the steps of:
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assembling data into data packets, each of said data packets having data corresponding to data packet sequencing data and an information field; transmitting respective said data packets as they become full with a predetermined amount of data, or if not full, at an occurrence of a reference interval of time; and receiving said transmitted data packets at a plurality of receiver means, and at each of said receiver means, checking for failures in a reliable receipt of said data packets by monitoring; said data packet sequencing data; and for receipt of a respective data packet within each expiration of a period of time corresponding to said reference interval of time; whereby both receipt of a data packet having data packet sequencing data which does not match a next expected data packet sequencing data of a predetermined sequence, and also a failure to receive a respective data packet within an expiratoin of a period of time corresponding to said reference interval of time, are indicative of a failure in a reliable receipt of said data packets. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A relible, high performance data communication system comprising:
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data source means for assembling data into data packets and transmitting respective said data packets as they become full with a predetermined amount of data, or if not full, at an occurrence of a predetermined interval of time which is measured from the transmission of the preceding data packet, each of said data packets having data corresponding to data packet sequencing data and an information field; a plurality of receiver means for receiving said transmitted data packets, each said receiver means having failure detection means for checking for failures in the reliable receipt of said data packets by monitoring; said data packet sequencing data; and for receipt of a respective data packet within each expiration of a period of time corresponding to said predetermined interval of time; whereby both receipt of a data packet having data packet sequencing data which does not match a next expected data packet sequencing data of a predetermined sequence, and also a failure to receive a respective data packet within an expiration of a period of time corresponding to said reference interval of time, are indicative of a failure in a reliable receipt of said data packets, and each said receiver means can issue a request for a data packet; and recovery means for supplying a requested data packet to respective receiver means which issue a request for said requested data packet in response to determination that there was a failure in a reliable receipt of a data packet.
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27. A reliable, high performance data communication method comprising the steps of:
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assembling data into data packets, each of said data packets having data corresponding to data packet sequencing data and an information field; transmitting respective said data packets as they become full with a predetermined amount of data, or if not full, at an occurrence of a predetermined interval of time which is measured from a transmission of a preceding data packet; receiving said transmitted data packets at a plurality of receiving means, and at each respective said receiver means, checking for failures in a reliable receipt of said data packets by monitoring; said data packet sequencing data; and for receipt of a respective data packet within each expiration of a period of time corresponding to said predetermined interval of time; whereby both receipt of a data packet having data packet sequencing data which does not match a next expected data packet sequencing data of a predetermined sequence, and also a failure to receiver a respective data packet within an expiration of a period of time corresponding to said reference interval of time, both being indicative of a failure in a reliable receipt of said data packets, and each said receiver means can issue a request for a data packet; and supplying a copy of a requested data packet to respective receiver means which issue a request for said requested data packet in response to a determination that there was a failure in a reliable receipt of a data packet.
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28. A reliable, high performance data communication system comprising:
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a communications network interconnecting a data source means with a file server means and a plurality of receiver means; said data source means periodically broadcasting packets of information to said file server means and said plurality of receiver means; each of said packets including a packet sequence number, a time stamp, and a plurality of information fields, each information field including a unique code field and a corresponding data field; a ring buffer in each respective one of receiver means in said plurality of receiver means for storing a plurality of packets received over said communications network; data management means for performing a code selection function in each said receiver means for selecting from said plurality of information fields in each packet stored in said ring buffer, data fields corresponding to selected ones of said unique codes; an ordered data table means in each said receiver means for storing in an ordered sequence said selected data resulting from performance of said code selection function; data processing means in each receiver means for utilizing said selected data in said ordered data table means; said file server means storing all of said packets received from said communications network; and negative acknowledgement means in each said receiver means for anticipating a receipt of said periodic packets from said data source means and detecting an omission of an anticipated receipt of a data packet, and in response thereto, generating a request for retransmission to said file server means, which performs retransmission through either a broadcast or via a session type connection; whereby a high performance, reliable data communication from said data source means to said receiver means is established. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification